A Music-related blog containing information and commentary of my favorite music, as well as some choice downloads of quality, hard-to-find music (unofficial releases, ROIO's, concert bootlegs, etc.) available on the web.

Thursday, April 30, 2015

I got an email from rock drummer Brian Doherty recently. Brian has been a part of great bands such as They Might Be Giants, The Silos, and XTC, as well as also having played with the likes of Ben Folds, Marshall Crenshaw, and Mike Viola. Blog readers should also remember that Brian was responsible for making the excellent live Silos compilation, Flipping the Bird, available to everyone. Well, Brian just wanted to let me (and you readers) know that his first original solo rock album is now available for download through his website. The album is called Treat + Release, with a basic rock trio set-up of Brian on drums and vocals, John Yates on bass, and Ted Novak on guitar, and also featuring various guest musicians on individual tracks, including Marshall Crenshaw on guitar for a couple tracks, and Mike Viola on assorted instruments and vocals (and sharing producing credit) on another track. Although the album has been available through iTunes and Amazon for some time now, for a limited time, Brian is offering the album as a free download through his website. I listened to the album right before posting this, and it's pretty good,
with interesting songs and a nice pop-rock sound and style. Certainly worth checking out. So, thanks to Brian for making this available and for letting us in on this share. While you're getting the download from Brian's website, be sure to check out the rest of his site, as he also has some drum tracks available in addition to his previous interesting blog posts about his experiences as a professional musician. Anyway, here is the link to Brian's site to download the album

Friday, April 17, 2015

New uploads and upgraded (more Lossless and high grade [320 kbps] mp3) files and posts

I will update here with links to the updated pages as I upload new updates and upgrades for previously available files and posts. In many cases, this will mean more Lossless files and upgrades to 320 kbps from the older 192 kbps files posted previously (as available of course). So check back to see what additional updates and upgrades have been made.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Well, here we are, at, quite unbelievably, the 7th anniversary of this blog. That's right, it's been a full 7 years since I started this little endeavor, and although it has never quite become what I had hoped it would (just haven't had the time to put into it), it has kept chugging along as what it is, averaging about a post a week throughout that 7 year's time. So, it hasn't been the most consistently updated of these types of things, but even at that rate of posting, it has amounted to nearly 400 music shows, bootlegs, and rarities files available for downloading. So many other music blogs have come and gone in that time (some much better than this one), but I have kept on plugging along through thick and thin. And what I have put out here is some really quality stuff, some obscure, much well-known, but all music and artists that I personally enjoy very much, available in as fine of sound quality as possible, and many of these shows are (or at least were) not generally available anywhere else. I try to provide some background and context to the music and artists, as well as my own commentary, rather than just unadorned music files, to give those new to these artists some perspective and history, to explore the music further. And in that sense I hope that what I have provided here has been useful and worthwhile, as well as musically satisfying. And so, I am somewhat proud of what I have assembled here over the last 7 years, and I hope it has been something that you come back to often and have been introduced to some new music here that you really enjoy, as well as the artists that you already knew and liked, to expand your musical horizons and enjoyment in addition to your music collection. I also take pride that most of the music that has ever been posted here, is still available for download, even multiple years after first posting. I try to keep the links up to date as much as possible, so that the music will continue to be available for all to sample. I have been pleasantly surprised that most files have received fairly regular downloads (to keep them active), even for the older posts going back several years. Sure, some of the more-obscure stuff needs to be refreshed every now and then, but overall, shows are still being downloaded pretty regularly, which pleases me to see. I guess it indicates that new people are finding the blog and going back through the older posts. So, that's all good. We seem to be pretty steady regarding visits and pageviews, not increasing, but not declining either.

And once again, as I have each year at this time, I also want to take this time to thank and celebrate all the others out there who have made so much of this great music, which is not available for purchase anywhere, freely available to all who wish to download and enjoy it. I am only able to offer these downloads because others before me have made them available. So, to all the other bloggers, tapers, forum posters, and music fans that have collected these recordings and made them available over the internet, as well as to all the great artists and musicians out there that allow these recordings to be freely exchanged, I offer a huge and heartfelt Thank You. And again, I implore everyone to purchase all the official releases of your favorite artists. The music here serves to supplement, not replace, all of their officially released music. They are supported by fans like us.

As for the future of the blog, well, who knows? I certainly wouldn't say there will be 7 more years ahead, but you never know. I have contemplated shutting it down several times over the past few years (following various shutdowns, closures, and loss of files), but it continues. At least for the time being, it will continue pretty much as it has been, that is, on the same limited basis (one or two posts a week, tops). I very much enjoy doing it, but just have a very limited time I can devote to it. So, please be patient, as it may take me some time to get around to posting things, etc. But I will always strive to provide new and interesting content that is generally not available from the other usual music blogs. As I've said previously, I do wish I could get more comments, feedback, and discussion from you, the readers of this blog. Please, let me know what you think of what is here, provide your own insight and perspective, and some real discussion of some of this great music. I would love to hear and see more from you, if possible.

For the immediate future, I have collected upgraded versions (FLAC or 320 kbps vs. 192k files) for many of the older posts, but just haven't gotten the chance to get the posts updated and improved. so, for the rest of April, rather than posting much new stuff, I'm going to take this chance to get things on the blog updated and upgraded. So, stay tuned for news of these and other changes that will be part of Upgrade April. Hope you like and can use some of these upgraded versions and improvements to the site.

Sunday, April 5, 2015

More Leo Kottke, and this show brings us up to more contemporary times (and finishes this brief retrospective of his career). In 2002, Leo released a duet collaboration album with Mike Gordon (bassist for the band Phish) titled Clone. Although this may seem an odd pairing, Gordon (as well as fellow bandmate Trey Anastasio) had been of fan of Leo's ever since he played at the University of Vermont (where Gordon and Anastasio were students) back in the '80's, and had communicated with Kottke and they wanted to collaborate for years. They finally got their chance during a Phish hiatus in 2001, and they got together and recorded Clone, featuring new songs written by both artists. The album was critically acclaimed and featured intricate interplays of Mike's bass and Leo's guitar, as well as vocal collaborations and harmonies as well. The collaboration was so succesful that the duo recorded another album
together in 2005, Sixty Six Steps, as well as another tour together. However, although Kottke continues to perform and tour regularly (he is currently on tour in 2015), Sixty Six Steps remains his last studio album released to date. The show featured here is from the tour in support of the 2002 album, and in addition to songs from that duets album, features re-workings of songs from both the artists past catalog. Here is an excellent soundboard recording from their St. Louis show.

About This Blog

This site respects and supports artists and artist rights. Please support the artists by purchasing their officially released music through normal channels. The music files, information, and downloads linked here represent unreleased recordings that are not available through any official channels. This music is meant to supplement (and not replace) the currently available official releases for fans that want to explore deeper into an artists repertoire than is possible through official releases only (through demos, outtakes, alternate versions, and concert recordings). The music linked here is presented for sampling and evaluation purposes. By all means, if you enjoy the music from any artists represented here, please buy their official releases. All music files linked here are freely available elsewhere on the internet and no music files are stored at this site. I hope you find new music to enjoy here.

If any artists or representatives of the artists object to anything I have posted here, please send me an email (address below) letting me know and I will promptly remove it (I only request that you contact me directly rather than pursuing any DMCA notification or legal action).

If anyone has any other questions, comments, or information you would like to send me or the blog via email, here is the address. Of course, for comments directly related to particular posts, please use the individual post comments (and I would love to get more comments on the posts, not just to get thanks, but to get more feedback on just what people think about the various music offered here). But if there are other things not related to specific posts, or that you don't want available for all to see, by all means send an email to the blog.